Derek Nicholson - College Football

Derek Nicholson #30

Linebacker

Height: 6-foot-2
Weight: 235 pounds
Class Year: Sr
Experience: 3V
Hometown: Winston-Salem, NC
High School: Mt. Tabor

As a Recruit (profile)

Class: 2005 (High School)
Rating/Rankings: | 6.0

Rivals.com The Rivals100 2005 (30)
Rivals.com Inside linebackers 2005 (2)

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The Latest: Series by series: UW's offense against FSU — 12/28/2008

Offensively, the Wisconsin football team left its worst performance for last against a very athletic and motivated Florida State squad in Saturday's Champs Sports Bowl. Sure UW amassed 333 total yards, but many of those came with the game out of hand. [details]

Statistics

DEREK NICHOLSON STATS	Defense
Statistics	UT	AT	TT	TL	S	Int	BR	FR
2008	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	0	0	0
2007	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	0	0	0
2006	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	0	0	0
2005	6	15	21	2	0.5	0	0	0
Career	6	15	21	2	0.5	0	0	0

GAME BY GAME STATISTICS: 2008 | 2007 | Hide Stats

BIO NOTES

2008 (Senior): At Florida State: One of the Seminoles most underrated defenders...Nicholson patrols the center of the defense and quietly goes about his job despite leading the team in tackles....one of only three FSU players on the defensive side to start every game in 2007...a 2007 All-ACC Academic Team selection...Phil Steele lists him as one of the top linebackers in the ACC and has him on his preseason All-ACC first team...named the fourth-best linebacker in the ACC by the Sporting News...had the sixth-most tackles among all returning players in the ACC...will be counted on to anchor a fairly inexperienced group of linebackers...named the team's most dependable linebacker following spring practice.

Junior Year (2007): Florida State's leading tackler with a career-high 99 stops...ranked 13th in the ACC with a career-high 7.6 tackles per game...tied for 12th in the ACC for total tackles...earned at least seven tackles in seven of the Seminoles' 13 games...the Seminoles' starter at the middle linebacker position for all 13 games...the only linebacker to start all 13 games for the Seminoles...has played in 31 games during the first three years of his career after playing in only five as a sophomore in 2006 when a knee injury limited his playing time...his career-high 99 tackles in 2007 is more then three times as many tackles as he had during the first two seasons of his career combined...posted a career-high 13 tackles in the Seminoles' Music City Bowl game versus Kentucky...also registered double digit tackles in a victory over Colorado (11), against Miami (10) and at Virginia Tech (10)...ranked fourth on the team with eight tackles for minus yardage to bring his career total to 10...a career-high 1.5 tackles for minus yardage at Wake Forest and in the Seminoles' victory over then-No. 2 Boston College...an All-ACC Academic Team member.

Sophomore Year (2006): Played in five games before injuring his right knee against NC State and missing the remainder of the season with a torn ACL...injured his knee in the first quarter of the Seminoles' game against the Wolfpack...was an impact player on Florida State's third-and-long defense and contributed significantly on special teams...totaled six tackles in five games before being lost for the season...season-high two tackles came against Clemson with one each coming against Miami, Troy, Rice and NC State...his one tackle against NC State earned him credit for one-half of a tackle for minus yardage.

Freshman Year (2005): Played in all 13 games for the Florida State including the Seminoles' ACC Championship game victory over Virginia Tech and the Orange Bowl against Penn State...led all first-year players in tackles with 21 and also registered 1.5 tackles for loss and half a sack, spending most of his time on special teams...actually led all defenders in tackles against The Citadel with a career-high nine...had three tackles vs. Duke and Syracuse...credited with a tackle for loss and a half sack vs. the Orange.

High School: Graduated from Mt. Tabor in 2005...was a USA Today All-American second team selection...regarded as one of the top prep linebackers in the country...a four-star player by Rivals.com and the No. 30 overall player in the country...the No. 2 inside linebacker in the country according to Rivals.com ...ranked the No. 7 player in North Carolina...member of the North Carolina Shrine Bowl team and was named MVP in that game...played for the East squad in the Army All-American game in which he led the East team in tackles...finished his career with over 600 tackles, which broke his brother A.J.'s school record...announced his commitment to Florida State live on ESPN News...chose Florida State over North Carolina, Miami, Notre Dame and Texas.

Personal: Born Dec. 30, 1988...a sport management major... father played football at North Carolina and for the New York Giants football team...brother A.J. Nicholson played for FSU from 2003-05.